Following on from the BBC childcare discussion thread

[SweetGeneVincent]

One poster said that her c/m was outstanding and yet let her child sit in front of the TV all day in an unchanged nappy.

This got me thinking - I got outstanding at my last inspection and was, rightly, thrilled. And yet I was given 24 hours notices to get my paperwork up together, plan the next day's activities and generally plan how to 'appear' to the inspector.

Am I the only c/m who would be happy for Ofsted to call unannounced. This would wipe out the chance of 'acting' for the inspection and so give a fairer view of the setting.

I know this is totally unworkable in the real world - everyone goes out at some time and the inspectors can't spend their time hoping to catch us in.

I wondered what anyone else thinks?

I think Ofsted should call unannounced for every childcare setting and/or school. As long as their expectations are of the normal day-to-day running of a c/m or school rather than the false expectations of the 'performance' most people give at the moment then it would give a much more realistic picture of the provision.

They can come to me whenever they like (but I'll probably be out). It might make more sense for them to phone me at 8 and ask me to stay in.

HSMM that's a good idea - hadn't thought of that!

I agree that under the current system the whole inspection performance is very fake.

On the other hand I think there are some moments when I would not want an inspector to come knocking. For example, yesterday I had three toddlers and we were super busy all morning and by lunch time I was utterly exhausted. We had rice and fish for lunch and the children made a dreadful mess all over the table and floor (they are all still mainly at the finger feeding stage). Pretty much every inch of the kitchen was covered in food and dirty dishes. I managed to get all three down for naps and then sat down to eat my own lunch and read the paper for 20 mins before before I could even contemplate tackling the cleaning. I would not have liked an inspector, or anybody else for that matter, to turn up and find me sitting reading the paper surrounded by that mess. I think I would have died of embarrassment.

I teach in FE so slightly different but we also deal with ofsted, inspections are very odd and superficial, you know they are coming so you give them the all singing and dancing lessons - exactly what they want to see. I agree, they should just call the morning of the inspection and say they are coming. That way it will be a true reflection of what goes on. I am confident in my teaching for them to come unannounced, granted I won't have all the "paperwork" they want but my lesson will be the same.

What frightens me are the schools etc that get graded a 3 or below for teaching.... When they know the inspectors are coming!!

I?ve had two consecutive outstandings and tbh I would welcome a spot visit?the reason? I thought my head was going to explode last time when I was given 3 days notice - I rushed around tweaking things and got in a right old state
I do more or less behave every day as I would during an inspection day i think. However, the children would probably go into shock if someone rang the door bell and then came in for hours on end. We don?t have unannounced visitors here. The only benefit of getting notice is that I try to ensure all the lj?s are up to date and that I have everything to hand for the inspector.

I've had two outstanding inspections. The first, i had a few weeks notice. I ran myself ragged getting everything absolutely perfect and was very nervous.
The second, I had 24 hours notice. My DD was 10 months old, my observation/paperwork was a couple of weeks behind. I didn't have a SEF, but I did have my own self assessment. I just thought "what the hell - no way I can get everything done in 24 hours" and let her see us warts and all.
I was completely up front, relaxed, she watched me preparing meals, dealing with the children. I was able to show her what i did paperwork-wise and how far I'd got.

She was very impressed. It wasn't perfection - it's never as perfect as I want it to be - but she said I was outstanding where it mattered.

1-2 days notice is fine. We need some notice because we're out and about much more for toddler groups and outings. It is not possible for an inadequate childminder to improve their practice to such an extent, to get all the paperwork done, the house cleaned, the kids retrained to behave differently, recognise new activities and accept hygiene procedures such as washing hands in such a short time. I know, having witnessed it, that it is possible for a school or nursery to have everyone involved in cleaning, procedure writing etc. to improve their grades.

I think it's parents that should be calling unannounced. Parents matter a lot more than OFSTED.

I think OFSTED should be taking time to figure out the not so genuine CM's. I know a CM that is very disliked in the village. Hence she only minds one child as nobody else will use her! She has all the time in the world for her paperwork - oh, and her well educated DH does her policies etc. Yes, she got Outstanding!! Can't see it making her any more popular though.

Parents already call unannounced, well mine do. They often turn up early or late.
They have even less of a snapshot than OFSTED, though, and they don't know what they're looking for and where to look.

Mind you, there are OFSTED inspectors who fall into that category

I would welcome an unannounced visit for inspections. The problem seems to be though that time could be wasted by inspectors knocking on doors of minders who are not in- and presumably they have already spent some time looking at our SEF and past inspections only to find no one home..... So I kind of understand why they don't do it.

I did have an unannounced one once - my "lovely" neighboru made a malicious complaint and an inspector landed on my doorstep just as I was about to do the school run. She waited till I got back and we had a lovely chat and to be honest I felt really good about myself as I could provide evidence to completely disprove the complaint. I treated it as a mini inspection with a big tick!